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Jakarta's Paralysis

Updated Oct. 18, 2000 12:01 a.m. ET

By David Roche, global strategist at Independent Strategy in London.

B ack in the heady days of the early 1990s, Southeast Asia was in the middle of an economic miracle. Meetings between Asian and European trade ministers were occasions for Asian ministers to explain to their counterparts how Asia did it. Foreign investors were falling over themselves to lend money to Asian banks or invest in or set up Asian companies.